Sept. 25, 1937 - OSU vs. TCU

Week 4 of the OSU football season and still no Big Ten opponent; the Buckeyes have never met the Eastern Michigan Eagles on the gridiron. What's an historical football fan to do?

We'll take a look at a Buckeye game from another September 25 game - namely Ohio State vs. Texas Christian University on Sept. 25, 1937.

The game against the Horned Frogs was the season opener for the Buckeyes in 1937. Francis Schmidt, OSU's head coach, surely knew what to expect from the Texas Christian University squad. He coached at TCU from 1929 through 1933, before coming to OSU in 1934.

The lead photo above shows Ohio State's first touchdown. (The Buckeyes are wearing the dark uniforms.) It happened in the first quarter of the game as fullback Johnny Rabb (3) ran the ball in from the 3-yard line. Rabb fumbled the ball in the end zone, but it was recovered by OSU guard Sol Maggied (40). In the end Rabb was credited with the score, officials ruling that his forward motion had stopped prior to the fumble. At least that's the story told by the photo caption. I'm not convinced the photo fits the story on the caption. It looks to me as if a TCU player (35) has the ball. What do you think?

FILE PHOTO

There was a large crowd on hand for the game - attendance was reported between 68,000 and 70,000 fans - despite rain. The photo above gives a nice view of just how full the stadium was that day.

The photo below shows Buckeye halfback Nick Wasylik (2) making a short gain in the second quarter before succumbing to the Horned Frogs' defense. The Buckeyes went on to score one more time in the third quarter. Final game score: OSU 14, TCU 0.

FILE PHOTO

Sources: The Official Ohio State Football Encyclopedia, Jack Park, 2002, Dispatch photo archives

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